Margaret Wise Brown

<p><strong>Leonard S. Marcus... has masterfully written about a fascinating woman who in her short life changed literature for the very young. I was throroughly enchanted.--Eric Carle</strong></p><p>Nearly fifty years after her sudden death at the age of forty-two Margaret Wise Brown remains a legend and an enigma. Author of <em>Goodnight Moon</em> <em>The Runaway Bunny</em> and dozens of other children's classics Brown all but invented the picture book as we know it today. Combining poetic instinct with a profound empathy for small children she understood a child's need for security love and a sense of being at home in the world. Yet these were comforts that had eluded her. Her sparkling presence and her unparalleled success as a legendary children's book author masked an insecurity that left her restless and vulnerable.</p><p>In this authoritative and moving biography Leonard S. Marcus who had access to never-before-published letters and family papers portrays Brown's complex character and her tragic seesaw life. Colorful thoughtful and insightful <em>Margaret Wise Brown</em> is both a portrayal of a woman whose stories still speak to millions and a portrait of New York in the 1930s and 1940s when the literary world blossomed and made history. </p>